It's hurting his velocity quite a bit. I tivo'ed and rewatched the Vandy game. He wasn't cracking 90 and a few fastballs were upper-mid 80s. You can sometimes get away with location if it's 94-95 like he's used to. If you bring it down to 88, then it becomes a 100-mile fastball coming right back at you off the bat.
Correct me if I am wrong: he seemed to be doing well until after the game when he was the starter, then it was all downhill since.....If that were the case, then it is suspicious that somehow the sudden long outing did something that affected his mechanics.
his struggling really kicked in after his 7 inning stint closing against bama. he struggled but it wasnt complete meltdown. after starting, he lost it completely. and he didnt go very long as a starter, so that outting wasnt about duration. however, the bama 7 was about duration and too much. imo, starting did not do anything for his mechanics. i think he probably tried to alter his rhythm and style a bit to be able to go a longer distance. between that and getting absolutely rocked as a starter, he just lost the strike zone completely after that.
